Moving tank to tank-How to?
 

Hey guys, so many of you probably remember my thread last week about getting
a 15 gallon tank and paying for a 20. Now with out getting back into that, I'll let
you know that hagen has sent me a new tank 20 gallons, and once its
transferred I will send them the old one.

My question is what is going to be the best way to move it?
I know that I'll have to move the fish, corals and rocks etc. into a temporary
home fore the day, and I am planning on taking 3 gallons of water from the tank
tonight and replacing it with new water, and keeping the old water in a air tight
container til saturday when I do the move, this way when I set up the tank I wont
be adding a bunch of new water, and possibly starting a new cycle. Now my sand is
still fairly new, so should I just rinse it? and put it in the new tank? anything else I
should do to make sure nothing goes wrong?

Thanks for the help guys!

Bucket everything with you heater in it. Try not to disrupt your sand or rock. Save all your water and rinse out you sand. Put it all back together in reverse, sand, rock, livestock.

On the tank note, is it the same size or bigger then the one you have already.


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Put tub on ground, move everything into it, remove tank, put on floor, put new tank on stand, scoop sand out of tank on floor to tank on stand, move tub of stuff back to tank. Should tank 30 minutes.

The tank is 5 gallons bigger give or take. Its 4 inches deeper

lol thanks Brad, just like it would read in an instruction booklet :lol: :wink:

make 5g of new water to top off the new tank. This is as simple as tank moving gets :)

LOL K, I just wasn't sure cause I had heard that adding too much new water can start the cycle again but I guess its not a huge amount! :)

I'm so glad I got it all sorted out, now I have room for a scooter blenny eventually! :mrgreen:

I'd check the volume of the new tank twice before putting yourself through this :lol:

I did :)
24x12x16 inside the glass so 19.94 gallons or 20 I guess :)

They want you to send the old tank back?

yup, but thats fine, I just wanted the tank I paid for, and I got it :mrgreen: I'm a happy camper, plus shipping is paid, so its not trouble

So after the move into the new tank do you think I could get away with using my 250w MH if I suspend it say 6-12 inches above the tank? it has fans but the new lid will be that plastic egg crate stuff, any concerns with that melting?

It won't melt at 12" away. 6, maybe :)

thanks! now I just have to figure out how to rig up some wires to suspend it, there are mounting kits online but I can't find any at the LFS's

Just follow Aquattros instructions. Pretty simple move. Your putting a 250W MH on a 20G? Is this for the first time? If so take precautions and I doubt you'll need a heater.

well I have a t5 metal halide combo, I have thought about it, but have never had it turned on yet, I know if I do put it on its definitely going to need to be on a timer and slow acclimate my corals too it over a few weeks or more, I'm not 100% sure if I will use it, but if I do I have 3 PC fans I am going to use for heat, as well as the built in fans on the light, but again I'm not 100% on it yet

The T5s will be fine but I would start the MHs at only an hour a day and slowly increase the time every couple of days by about 15mins. You dont wanna bleach everything or fry all your stuff. That sucks. Than we'll all be looking at another hundred posts of yours. HAHA Sorry just kidding,:wink:

haha no I know what you mean Yeah I was planning maybe starting 30 minutes to an hour a day for a week then 1 1/2- 2 hours and so on, but I think it'll just be like from 12-4 or 5pm for the afternoon kind of light. Anyone know of a good way to do a small ato for a small tank? I think it might be a good Idea if I run my MH

Some people do up to 50% waterchange without the tank going through a cycle, adding 5g of water to the tank isn't going to make it cycle, although disturbing the substrate may cause more of a cycle than anything else.

A few tips on transferring the tank: (some might be the same as most have suggested)

- remove rocks and corals into a bucket or container, while doing this drain 40% of the water into the holding tank.

- another bucket drain another 4g of tank water and catch fish and inverts and place them into the bucket.

- leave about 5% of water and sand, clean sand with hand by mixing it up then drain the water as much as you can and dispose it.

- remove sand and place it in new tank, scape the tank with lr.

- pump water back into the tank from container holding corals and lr, when doing this step use a saucer or shallow plate in the tank and put your finger over the tube to regulate flow returning the seeded tank water. The idea is to let the water slowly diffuse on the saucer or plate so that you disturb the substarte as little as possible.

- return corals back into the tank, then add fish and remaining water.

-Have your premixed saltwater and top off the tank!

If you really want to you can add the new saltwater abit over the span of a week essentially it's like doing a water change every other day, if it was me I'd do it all at once.

As for the MH I would say it's ok to use it now because the days are cooler, but watch out when summer arrives as your tank will easily hit high 20s unless your suite has AC.

Good luck with the transfer!

Thanks! :) we have AC so no worries there, hust have to maybe get an ATO for my tank eventually

I moved a 90 gallon from the old to the new in 1 day but was lucky the new tank was going up on the wall next to the old one so it was bucket the rock catch the fish put into holding tank pump water from one tank to the next.Then moved the sand from old to new let that all settle put rock back in corals then fish no problems at all.:smile:

One more question in this thread. My kenya tree is getting way too big! and I'd like it gone, its on a piece of LR about the size of a cantelope, and the tree is about the size of a large grapefruit when fully opened. How can I get it out? or would anyone like to buy it from me?

Just peel it right off of the rock. I do it all the time with a devils hand coral that I dont want. It always grows back in the same spot. Drives me nuts.

yeah thats my concern cause in split onto a spot right next to it, and the i pulled it off and it keeps coming back! lol would aiptasia killer do anything? or is it going to be an ongoing battle?:cry:

Cover that spot with a kalk paste or put another peice of rock or something else over the spot.

right on thanks bud